Walmart Rep Picked for Land Use Work Group

Work on the zoning and land use plan for the southeast corner of 4-Mile and Green Bay Roads will get underway next month.

Three residents and five business residents were added Wednesday to the original land use work group that will work with the Planning Commission to address zoning inconsistencies where Walmart is proposing a 182,000 square foot supercenter.

New work group members are:

• Dale Miller
• Dennis Maller
• Steve Joost
• CalStar
• Longo Storage
• G & F Excavating
• Mulligan's
• Attorney Deb Tomczyk/Walmart as agent for the property owner

Calstar makes bricks from fly ash. A company official said they hope to gain business from Walmart when they build the new store. If it goes through and Walmart would use Calstar's bricks, it would be the first Walmart store they would help build.

Longo Storage is owned by John Longo, who lives across the street from the proposed Walmart site. Mulligan's is owned by Racine County Executive Jim Ladwig. 

Commission members Jon Schattner and Elaine Radwanski voiced concern over Tomczyk's place with the group because as Walmart's attorney, she is the reason for the work group and has a conflict of interest.

Bill Folk admitted he has some reservations, but believes the property owner should have a voice. Ron Last sided with Folk because Tomczyk's voice is just one of many.

"She is one person in a group of many because we should have an opinion heard by the representative or the property owner," he said. "You have other people from the group."

Ekes backed them up, and in the end, Tomczyk was added to the list. All residents were unanimously approved, but Schattner and Radwanski voted "no" for the business candidates based on Tomczyk's participation.

Walmart last September submitted a re-zoning request for part of the land in question and then in January turned in an application for a land use plan amendment. 

Because Caledonia's land use plan and the county's overlay plan do not match, Village Administrator Mark Janiuk and Attorney Elaine Ekes put forth a plan at the Feb. 27 Plan Commission meeting to gather the 2006 land use work group that focused on the Village Center concept for that corner. The group and the commission will work together to reconcile the differences in the village's comprehensive plan and the county's overlay plan.

Residents and resident business owners had until Friday to turn in letters of interest. Ekes told the commission Wednesday that a total of eight vacancies needed to be filled; three residents and five businesses.

The work group will meet at 6 p.m. April 3 at the Eastside Community Center, 6156 Douglas Avenue, to set a meeting schedule, including an end date on which they will wrap up and send recommendations to the Planning Commission.